


Half a Worm

by rosefox



Category: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Genre: Gen, Mind Control, No Sex, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 13:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12233640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefox/pseuds/rosefox
Summary: The only thing worse than finding a worm in your apple is finding half a worm in your apple.





	Half a Worm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tunglo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tunglo/gifts).



Snow White rose slowly into consciousness, as though up from the depths of the sea. And still there seemed to be a bit of the ocean about her, for her vision wavered. She blinked and yawned and stretched; the air resisted her like water. Sleep threatened to drag her back down and drown her.

She looked around, puzzled. Someone had moved her in her sleep. She lay now in a glade of flowers, and all her most loved ones knelt before her, the animals with their heads bowed low, the dwarves with their caps off, as though she were a queen—

The queen! The witch! The apple! She remembered now—

—and the memory was gone, swallowed up by the waters sloshing and swirling in her head. They tugged at her awareness. She struggled to remain conscious and forced herself to sit upright, stretching again, trying to push away the strange soporific feeling. 

Or perhaps this was still a dream. It felt like a dream: the shafts of light whose only aim was to illuminate her, the golden dais, the flowers. Her friends, kneeling, why were they kneeling?

The prince, kneeling, dark head bowed, graceful limbs folded. The stillness looked as unnatural on him as it did on the deer and rabbits. He was born to leap like a fawn, to dart away, to dance. He should not be so still.

He raised his head and his eyes met hers. They were empty pools, as deep as the slowly churning whirlpool in her mind. 

Something far away inside his eyes recognized her... no, recognized something inside her. Something that rose up from the whirlpool. Something that pulled her down into a prison from which she could only watch in horror as the alien presence within her captured control of her body. She could not even shudder with her desperate need to scream.

Her memories slowly returned now that she was helpless to act upon the knowledge they contained. The queen—the witch. The apple, polluted with whatever vile magic now worked within her, like a worm that had crawled down her gullet. The dais was a coffin, she saw now, its glass lid carefully set to one side. They must have thought she was dead. Her friends, her dear friends, how they had loved her even in seeming death. Her heart ached for them. She longed to run to them, embrace them, reassure them and herself that she lived. But she no longer had any power to move.

The prince stood and lifted her, striding singlemindedly toward his horse. Numbly, Snow huddled within herself. Her legs were folded, useless, paralyzed or maybe simply ignored by the entity that controlled her now. Her hands lifted to her lips and blew kisses, over and over. Each kiss flew out into the world like a spider trailing a silken thread of dread magic. She saw them land invisibly, tainting the friends she had known and loved so well, the ones who had saved her when all seemed lost. A raccoon shook her paws as they became more like tiny clever hands, with wicked, curved claws meant for destruction. A deer pawed the ground, looking for another male to challenge, and antlers like thorny vines sprang from his brow.

The prince settled her gently on his horse, sidesaddle. Her legs were still numb and she hoped she wouldn't fall. 

His eyes met hers again. She understood now that whatever was in him had somehow come from her. Her lips held the faintest memory of a kiss, the tangible connection far more toxic than those whispers of breath—not a tiny spider but a worm that had slithered from her mouth to his.

He bent down and lifted up Bashful, as easily as if the old man were a child. She had thought they were children, once. She knew better now. They were men, hard-working men, gentle men, loving men. They had cherished her, as her father had. They had protected her, as the huntsman had. They had admired her, as the prince had. But all these good men were as vulnerable as children before the witch-queen's venom.

If Bashful was a little puzzled that her first waking action was to leap into the prince's arms, shunning those who had kept vigil over her, he kept his confusion and hurt to himself, giving her an enormous beaming smile. She leaned forward, lips pursed. Inside Snow was screaming, _No, no! Not Bashful, not him, the sweetest of them all, who only thinks of others, no_ , and he smiled at her and blushed as she pressed a corrupted kiss to his bald head and betrayed all his kindness and trust. No claws or horns for him, no; instead she could see tendrils of magic wind around his thoughts, choking them with spite and doubt and cruelty.

All the others clamored for their turns, and the prince lifted them to her poison mouth. With every touch she felt her soul wither. Perhaps she truly had died, and all that remained was a body, a puppet, a glove to be worn by the witch's shriveled hand.

At last the deed was done. "Goodbye," she breathed, blowing a final kiss that carried with it the stench of rot. The flowers wilted. A bird lurched out of the sky and began to molt.

The prince took the horse's bridle. His steps had seemed lighter than air; now they plodded. Slowly, gracelessly, he led her toward the castle and a grieving populace eager for the miracle of an awakened princess's kisses.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Karios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios) for the beta!
> 
> Also thanks to whoever put [the final scene of the movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDYNksqL4us) up on YouTube; the genuine creepy weirdness of the original film was very inspiring.


End file.
